Issac Maiden says he didn't take part in near-fatal St. Paul beating of Ray Widstrand

Issac Maiden did not even see the man who wandered into a crowd of teenagers on a Payne-Phalen street corner and ended up beaten nearly to death, he testified Thursday.

Maiden had been sprayed with a chemical irritant during a fight among some girls and fled the area before Ray Widstrand got there, Maiden said from the witness stand in his own defense.

Maiden, 19, is on trial in Ramsey County District Court on charges of first-degree assault and aggravated robbery, and committing those crimes for the benefit of a gang. He has pleaded not guilty.

"I never touched this white man," Maiden testified. "I never saw this man ... because I was Maced."

Widstrand, then 26, suffered a near-fatal head injury that resulted in a large blood clot under his skull, a Regions Hospital neurosurgeon testified Thursday.

Ray Widstrand (Courtesy photo)

Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Friday morning; jurors will then begin deliberations.

Contrary to assertions by the prosecution and witnesses, Maiden said that while he grew up around gang members, "I'm not affiliated with gang members."

After a party on Preble Street near Minnehaha Avenue in St. Paul on Aug. 4, two pairs of girls got into street fights, witnesses have testified at trial.

The partygoers spilled out of the house to watch.

According to witness Gerald Phillips, who testified Wednesday, Maiden was one of several people who kicked Widstrand in the head after another person knocked him unconscious.

Other witnesses supported Maiden's contention that he was not present.

Those included Rozell Grainger, who pleaded guilty as a juvenile to taking part in the assault on Widstrand. He is now in juvenile custody.

"I kicked the man twice," Grainger said, denying that he did so to impress people. "I don't know his name."

Some 15 boys attacked the prone Widstrand, but not Maiden, Grainger said.

Initially, Dr. Matthew Kang said, Widstrand's condition was so bad that he didn't think it was worth taking him into surgery. But by the next morning, "his neurological condition had improved, which is highly unusual. I decided to operate on him."

On Wednesday, Kang operated again -- replacing the piece of skull bone that he had removed to accommodate the brain's swelling. There has been "significant improvement," Kang said.